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Inez Russell Gomez made us all feel like we were “listening to a conversation at her kitchen table”, —Gloria Roybal.

“And her knowledge and somatic understanding of the history came through.” —Marissa Roybal

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Dr. Timothy E. Nelson joins

“Conversations Different” to discuss Blackdom, N.M., a settlement of Black pioneers that formed in southeast New Mexico in the early 1900s. Nelson, whose book “Blackdom, New Mexico: The Significance of the Afro-Frontier, 1900-1930” was published last summer, talks about the historical context in which the settlement existed and dispels the narrative that Blackdom was a failure. He also talks about what it’s been like to write about a history that many people were previously unaware of and what he’s noticed about how people respond when new information conflicts with popular understanding.

Spotify

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Santa Fe New Mexican Article: Join the conversation today Aug 23, 2023 Updated Feb 12, 2024

Doña Ana County Clerk's Office interview with Dr. Nelson

In this episode, Doña Ana County Clerk Dr. Amanda López Askin, Chief Deputy County Clerk Caroline Zamora, and County Clerk's Office Researcher Bernadine Caporale talk to Timothy E. Nelson, P.h.D., Author of Blackdom, New Mexico: The Significance of the Afro-Frontier, 1900 - 1930. They discuss the importance of the Afro-Frontier, a term coined by Dr. Nelson, along with why Frank Boyer and Daniel Keyes chose Chaves County for the Blackdom Townsite, why some Blackdom families ultimately settled in Doña Ana County, and why sovereignty was the goal of the community.

Please send any questions or feedback to dacclerk@donaanacounty.org

Andrew Lawrence Interviews Marissa - June 29, 2021

Marissa Roybal, COO, Blackdom Clothing and Productions Ltd. is imbued with the value of self-sufficiency and an entrepreneurial spirit. Her extensive representation, business, relationship building, and organizational skills along with her passion is her contribution to the development of Blackdom: The Afro-Frontier. Her values, and passion for alternative forms of education, and racial justice were forged at a young age and continue to drive her work and vision to foster cultural change.

Andrew Lawrence Interviews Blackdom Historian Timothy E. Nelson, Ph.D. on January 16, 2020

Dr. Timothy E. Nelson’s multi-faceted work concerns racism, ambition, and the search for opportunity. These themes were revealed in his 2015 Ph.D. dissertation The Significance of the Afro-Frontier. Dr. Nelson was born in South Central LA, raised in Compton, during the early 1990s in the wake of race and class-based conflict with the LAPD. He earned his Ph.D. from (UTEP) the University of Texas at El Paso.

https://youtu.be/qgPt1PZlB6Y

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Check out State Historian of New Mexico, Rob Martinez on his YouTube channel!

New Mexico State Historian Rob Martinez mentions Blackdom at 07:00:00 Published August 16, 2021

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Have you heard of Blackdom, New Mexico? Chances are slim. I myself never heard of the all-Black settlement that was founded in 1901 in territorial New Mexico.

Blackdom was located in the backyard of Dexter, a small farming community in Chaves County where I was raised. It was about two years ago or so when a researcher came to the Caroline E. Stras Research Room seeking information about the settlement and soon after I was consumed and I wanted to know more about the establishment.

With the current Black Lives Matter movement, I thought that this post was timely and believe it was the ideal time to share information about the settlement. I would like to point out that it is critical that within the archival profession to capture the history of underrepresented/marginalized groups. With that being said, I would like to share the history of Blackdom.